Train-control system.



J. AMES. TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM.

APPLICATION nun APR. 12, 1913.

Patented Nov. 24. 1914..

2 sizzmssnn1rr 1.

AVUEN TU/a" WI T/VESSES:

J. AMES.

TRAIN CONTROL SYSTEM.

APPLICATION nun APR. 12, 1013.

Patented Nov. 24. 1914.

2 SHIIETSSHEET 2.

INVENTOR W/TNE TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Jon l mits. or ivroiv'rnosn. IOWA, AssiGNoii or oun-sixrrn '1'0 Lmco'LN 0. Minnie, AND own-manicure GIBSON BROWN, Born on mioiztrk, IOWA, examine TO Jomv c. SCHZEE Am) ONE-EIGHTH T0 rr oivms s. nonni'son, nor on FARMING- Toiv. IOWA, AND ONE-EIGHTH Td- ED'WARD mean, or mon'rnosn, IOWA.

TRAIN-CONTROL SYSTEM.

Specification. of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 24, 1914.

Application filed April 12, 1913. Serial No. 760,799.

same,reference being'had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this spe'cificrr tion.

My invention relates to an electrically operate'd system for automatically warning 'and controlling trains to prevent collisions,

and dcrailments due to defects in the track, and its object is to produce a system of this character which will be reliable and positive in its operation. The system may be used either on steam or electric railways.

Broadly, my invention consists in providing an arrangement of circuits whereby a train controlling circuit, including means for controlling any desiredsignal or brake controlling device. on the train, is constantly maintained as the train advances along the track. A local circuit, or circuits, on the train may be so arranged that when the train controlling circuit is interrupted on account of the too close approach of another train, or through a broken wire, or a defective battery or connections, a warning signal or the airbrake, or both, will operate. Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the track, contact rails and the arrangement of the main circuits of the system; Fig. 2 shows means for protecting trains against open switches, or cars, or trains which come into the block from-a side track; Fig. 3 sets forth one arrangement of circuits and signal devices carried by the train; Fig. 4 is a View showing the position of the contact shoes on the train and the disposition of contact rails at crossings and the like; Fig. 5 shows the electrical connections between contactrails and contact shoes; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view, partly in section and partly in elevation, showing-the contact 'shoesand' contact rails and one method of supportingeach- Fig is a, plan view of the. contact shoe shown m Fig. Ii -g, 8 sl 1ows airother arrangement of circuits on the train for the same general purpose as the arrangemcntshown in Fig. 3.

1 and 2 reprcsent the rails of a track which are divided into insulated sections or blocks.

3 and 4 are contact rails also divided into insulated sections, preferably corresponding in length to the length of the track sections. For convenience in showing the circuits, these rails are shown separately in Figs. 1 and 2-in practice, these rails may be placed one above the other as shown in Fig. 6.

17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 are relays, each of which is in circuit with the track rails of a section and with a track battery 12 forming what I will designate as track circuits.

5 is a conductor extending alon the track and connected to a track rail of each section or block.

13 and 14 represent trains on the truck,- each of which is provided with at least one contact shoe 15 and with a battery or other source of electrical energy 26. Each section of each contact rail is connected through the armature ofa relay to one of the track rails. The relay in each track circuit controls two armatures, one of said armatures being in circuit with a section of comprising contact shoe 15, a quick acting relay 25, a slow acting relay 24, battery 26 and a truck of the train. The slow acting and quick actin relays control apparatus on the train which 'will be hereinafter described.

' The operation of the system asshown in Fig. 1 will now be explained. The relays 17, '18, 19, 20 and 21 are normally energized by the'batteries 12, and their armatures .are held in the closed or attracted position.

When a train is on a block, however, the battery of the block will he short-circuited through the trucks of the train and the armatures of the relayin the track circuit of that block will be-retracted under the in-* fluence of their springs, and the circuits of which they are a. part will thereby be opene In Fig. 1, a train is shownm block 8 n block 10, end the armatures of reiinrl -2.0. are therefore in the open end no circuit could i he established included the secti'ons'of contact rail 'lo and 9 or tl'lesecticns of conin blocks 9 or vll. In this systravel' i h ave the clirection of train 13 have th. L1" contact hearing on. contact rail 3. in the or shown, trains 1-3 and 1%! each e:-

A complete train controlling circuit. n, reference to train 1% this circuit may as follows: from battery 26 to 1:3,to Contact rail 4; armature oi the train to battery 2t}. SUI)" t n14. reaches block 9 illie l to.

olish'acomplete train controli't :l'or the reason that the circuit -n would comprise the section l 1' in block 9 and an armature 18. 'hi'sarinature, however its opened position as long as i olock'S. It will also be clear ii of the relay in the trac' col: antlgtnereby permit the art 11s relay to open, ancl thusmake rit blocks to establish oiling circuit; I for any reason, av complete train 1;; circuit can not'he establishekil sin, the apparetusshown in Fig; 3 operatire to Warn the engine man 0 to automatically stop. the train.

cry 28, electrornagnet 3O and the of relays 24: and which are controllingcircuit. his long as cimtrolling circuit is complete, E'Il(lS current through rclsysfie and. keep the local circuit low-ever, hoth of these re armatures, this localcirnov armati'"e of relay h'y' opening waive 36 in it 1 with s train air cuit also contains the tion in the same direction 11 contact shoes hearing i. contact rail it and trains which travel in conductor track mil 2 and.

n hlock S, it would he un-- a broken rail Will prevent the ener i 1; circuit of lblefor a train on either hl'o'ckor a complete a circuit is shown "which corn- Y .i holcl their armatures in at'-.

by the air which escapeswhen the valve ,36 is opened, and also an additional local circuit comprising'a bellor other Warning device 32 and hatterylll 'may be operated by relay 27 @111 the manner shown.,.

It may sometimes happen that the connection between the contact shoe and the contact rail may be broken momentarily when there-is otherwise complete circuit for the train and. to avoid unnecessary stop ping of the train on this account, theslow acting relay is provided. It will he noted; that the local circuit on. the train will not be opened unless armatures of both relays FM- and are open. If connection between the contact shoe and the-contact rail is again established before the armature of the slow acting relay is retracted thequick acting relay will again attract its armature with the result that the local circuit on the train Wlll remain closed.

If the train is traveling slowly at the time it rec ives a Warning, it is not necessary that it be automatically stopped anrl for that reason, l; have provicl'ecl a centrifugal device 3e driven from the car axle by a chain or belt 38, anti which controls a valve 33. This dGTlOG may be so adjusted that'ivhen the speed ofthetrain does not exceed five or s13: miles an hour, for example, that Valve 33' Will he held closed with the result that the opening of the valve-36 which ItELlZQS placewhen the main train'controlling circuit fails, will not operate'to' release the air from the train pine j Iii-Fig. 2, l have shown the circuit arrangement I provide at track switches. The insulate cl joints are placed in the contact rails" 3 and 4- near theswitch, cat the two parts of'these rails are nevertheless normallyelectrically connected by means of the switch when the track switch is closecl. lVhen the track switch is open, this connection is broken with the result that there were any trainin' the block at the time, its train controlling circuit would be broken and. it would he Warned or stopped It will also he noted that should a train come on the track from a side track, thatit will short-circuit the track battery 12 and. cause the armatures of the relay in the track circuit to he released, thereby Warning any train that may be in either of the adjacent blocks.

Fig.8 shows another "possible form of circuits on. the train for the same general purpose as thoseshou'n in Fig. clay e5 in the portion of the traincontrolling circuit carried by the 'train'is a quick acting. relay Relay 4? in the local-circuit is preferably 9 is also a slow actire so arronged that pliecl with current 4 as thearmeture W an armature lilt) opens, however, the armature of relay 47 will open, and, later, the armature of .relayvquick acting and the time required for opening the local circuit can be regulated by connecting a varying number of relays in the circuit in the same manner as relays 47 and 49 are connected. Resistances 48 may be proportioned to properly divide the current and the resistance 46 may be used tocontrol the strength of the current in the main train controlling circuit.

In Fig. 2, I also show an electrically operated signal or semaphore 23 connected in parallel circuit with the track relay and also 0 erated-by the track battery. These semaores may be placed at each end of the lock and serve as additional means of notifying the engineer before entering a block whether the block .is clear.

Referring to Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7, 40 is a support for the contact rails 3 and 4 which are msulated from each other and from the support, as shown. 15 represents a contact shoe having bracing arms, slidingly mounted on rods 43 and 44 carried by a bracket 41. The springs 42 tend to ,keep the contact shoe in a position midway between the upper surface of the upper contact rail and the lower surface of the lower contact rail.

as shown in Fig. 5. An opening must be made in the contact rail at road crossings and in order that the train controlling circuit may not be broken when the train passes crossings, I provide a train with two contact shoes which may be located asindicated in Fig. 4 and which are electrically connected as shown in Fig. 5. The ends of the upper and lower contact rails are also electrir 'cally connected, as shown in this figure.

The shape of the ends of these rails is such that after passing the crossing, a contact shoe will again engage with the same rail.

It will be noted that in the system herein described, the operative circuits are normally closed with the result'that a defect in the-apparatus such as broken wires or exhausted batteries will have the same effect as the too close approach of another train, thereby making the system a thoroughly safe one. The blocks may be made of any desired length, and a telephone circuit for communicating with the train from stations may be provided in transformer relation with the train controlling circuit, in the same manner as described in my application, Serial No. 706,939, filed July 1, 1912. The contact rails may be placed on one side of the track throughout a part of the block, and on the other side of the track throughout the remainder of the block where this arrangement is desirable ongaccount of thelocation of stations or for other reasons. When thecontact rails are disposed in this manner, however, the train should be provided with two contact shoes, one on each side thereof.

I am aware that modifications may be made in the arrangement of conductors andother details of the apparatus described and I do not, therefore, desire that the scope of my invention be limited otherwise than by the appended claims.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent of the United States is:

1. In a train control system, the combination of a track having at least one of its rails divided into insulated sections, track circuits each comprising a source of elec trical energy and an insulated track section,

two contact members adjacent to each other and extending along the track, said contact members each being divided into insulated sections of substantially the same length as the corresponding track section, a contact device carried by a train and movable on its support whereby it may be caused to cooperate with either contact member, partial circuits for controlling trains each of said circuits comprising an insulated track section and a section of a contact member, and a switch in each train controlling circuit, said switch being controlled from a track circuit.

2. The combination in an electric train controlling system, of a railway track, two contact members, one above the other and extending adjacent to the track, a contact device carried by a train and capable of vertical movement, said contact device having upper and lower contact surfaces whereby it may cooperate with either contact member, and train controlling conductors comprising said contact device and contact members.

3. The combination with a railway track, of two contact members one above the other extending parallel to the track and terminating at crossings and the like where the end of the lower contact member on one side of the crossing is turned up. and the end of the upper contact member on the. other side of the crossing is turned down, a contact shoe carried by a train and so mounted as to be movable vertically, the positions of the ends of the contact members being such with. relation to the normal position of the cont act shoe that when the train moves in one direction from a position in which the contact shoe engages neither contact member, it will engage the upper contact member, andwwhen the train movesin the opposite direction, the shoe will engage the lower contact member.

4. In a traincontrol system, the combination of two contact members extending adjacent' to the track and terminating at cr'ossf ings and the like, conductors for connecting each contact member with the corresponding contact member on thefotlier side of the crossing, two contact shoes carried by a train and each adapted to cooperate With either contact member, said contact shoes being spaced a greater distance apart than the distance between the ends of the contact members at said crossings, and electric train controlling means comprising said contact members and contact shoes.

In a train control system, a track di- Yided' into insulated sections or blocks, a track circuit for each section comprising track rails, a source of energy and a circuit controlling device, two Contact members eX tending adjacent to the track and divided into insulated sections corresponding in length to the track sections, a conductor extending adjacent to the track and connected to {ii-track rail in each block, partial train. controlling circuits comprising a portiono'f said conductor, a section of a Contact memher, and a track rail, and means carried by a train. for electrically connecting a track rail and a contact member to form a complete train controlling circuit.

6. In. a train control system, a track dl vided into insulated sections or blocks, a track circuit for each section comprising a track rail, at source ofenergy and-a circuit controlling device, two contact inembers-ex- 1 tending adjacent to the trackand divided into insulated sectlons corresponding *in length to the track sections, a conductor 6X' tending adjacent to the track and connected to a track rail in each vblock, partial train controlling circuits comprising a portion of i said conductor, a section of a contactmember and a track rail, means carried by a train for electrically connecting a track rail and a contact member to form a complete train,

controlling circuit, and a switch operatedby the circuit controllin device for making an opening 1n two 'partlal train controlling circuits.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set ELsIE LEEGH, E. VVRIGHT. 

